My Autistic Daughter
by AnorakTheAllKnowing
Summary: Joyce Byers is a single mother with two children, a son and a daughter who has Autism. And whilst she wouldn't trade her for the world, she can be very difficult sometimes. One-shots of Joyce's good and bad experiences of having an Autistic daughter.
1. December 1983 I

Joyce is in her bed, getting some of the best sleep she's had in a while. Unfortunately, her sleep is interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She opens her eyes to see her twelve year old daughter Jane, sitting on her knees next to her on the bed.

"Jane?" Joyce says sitting up, rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out, "What's wrong baby?"

Jane (who can't speak) points towards Joyce's window. Joyce looks over to see that is snowing outside. "Oh wow it's snowing."

Jane taps her chest with her finger then points back to the window. Joyce then knows what she's getting at. "You want to go out in the snow?" Jane puts her arm down and nods.

"Jane it's way too early. We'll go out in the morning okay?"

Jane's expression gets slightly sadder. She points to the window again making a small whining sound.

"Jane." Joyce says in a slightly warning tone. "We'll go out in the morning, I promise."

Jane puts on a grumpy face and starts hitting her mother with both hands. Joyce stops her by grabbing her wrists.

"Jane Eleanor Byers! We do not hit!"

Jane then starts moaning, "Oohhhh!" she moans. "Oohhhhhhhh! Oohhhhhh!"

"Jane it's okay baby it's okay."

Jane pulls her wrists out from Joyce's grip and proceeds to hit herself, forcing Joyce to restrain her.

She pins her down on the bed where she continues to moan. "If you do not calm down now we won't go outside!" As soon as Joyce says that Jane stops moaning and starts to calm down.

Jane taps her fingers against Joyce's arm, her way of saying sorry.

"That's okay sweetie," Joyce says relinquishing her hold on her daughter. "Do you want to sleep in mommy's bed?" Jane nods. "Okay come on." She pulls the covers over them and cuddles up to her daughter. "I love you," she says. Jane hums in response, her way of saying I love you too.

They both go back to sleep, and in the morning, Joyce takes both Jane and Will out in the snow. Just like she promised. And when she sees the beautiful smile on her beautiful daughter's face, she knows that no matter how many meltdowns Jane has, she will deal with them all just to see her smile.

AN: Comment suggestions for future chapters.


	2. December 1983 II

It it 05:59. Usually not the time Jane is awake by, but today is an exception. She sits in her bed, her hands flapping with excitement. Joyce told her before going to bed that she is not to wake her and Will up until six.

She looks over at her digital clock and watches the numbers change to 06:00. She immediately gets off her bed and runs to Will's room. When she gets inside she nudges his sleeping form to wake him up. "Wha-what's going on?" he asks not fully awake. Jane points at his clock and he realises what time it is. "Oh yeah. Six. Merry Christmas Jane." he says sitting up.

She grabs his arm and tugs it to get him out of bed, her excitement is uncontainable. "I'm coming Jane I'm coming," Will says laughing at her enthusiasm. "Go you wake up Mom I'll be out in a minute." He watches as Jane runs off to their mother's bedroom, thinking to himself: you are a strange and wonderful thing Autism.

…

After having gone through all their presents they get down to their last ones. For Will it's an Atari, and when he sees it he is overwhelmed with joy, but it doesn't compare to Jane's reaction when she sees hers. She takes off the wrapping paper to see a square white box. She takes off the lid, and inside is a pink dress, the same pink dress that Jane saw at the mall in September and had a meltdown over when Joyce didn't have enough money to buy it. Her eyes go wide and she looks at her mother who smiles, "Merry Christmas baby."

Jane looks back at the dress and is so happy that she squeals whilst flapping her hands. After holding Joyce in a bone crushing hug, she takes her dress to her room to try it on. She doesn't take it off for rest of the day, not even when she goes to bed. But Joyce doesn't care, she's just happy that she's wearing it, and she does, a lot, so much that she has a meltdown when she can't, but she was happy, and that was all Joyce could ask for.

AN: Comment suggestions for future chapters.


	3. December 1983 III

For the last half hour Joyce has been trying and failing to get Jane into the bath, some nights it was easy to get her in, this was not one of those nights. "Jane come out," Joyce hears her daughter moan in response and she rolls her eyes.

Will, who is sitting at the dinner table, looks up from his drawing, his hair still wet from his bath. "Still no luck?" he asks. "No," she answers, "I think she's sitting in front of the door it won't open." She decides to use her last resort. "Jane, if you come out, I promise I'll let you have Eggos for dinner." Three seconds later, the door opens, and Jane steps out, frowning with her eyes looking at the floor.

Joyce rubs her hand along Jane's arm, "Good girl, it won't be long okay?" Jane nods. "Come on." Joyce takes her hand and leads her into the bathroom.

…

At first it goes well, she gets Jane undressed and in the tub, but it's when her brown curls get wet that she starts crying, she hated when her hair was wet. She continues to cry for the rest of bath.

"I know baby, I know," Joyce says while scrubbing her daughter with the bath sponge, "I'm nearly done okay?" Jane nods her head, tears in her eyes.

Joyce hated making her daughter upset, but personal hygiene was important.

…

After Jane is finished she gets out of the tub where Joyce wraps a towel around her and pulls her into her arms, "You did great sweetie, I'm so proud of you."

After Jane is dried off she sits at the dinner table with her family, eating her plate of Eggos with whipped cream that Joyce put on as an extra treat.


	4. August 1982

Will and Jane are at the ice cream parlour in the mall after he reluctantly told his mom that he would take her due to Joyce being ill. But if he was honest, it wasn't too bad, everything was going smoothly, that was, until he showed up.

"Well well well. If it isn't the mistakes. What are you two doing here?" Troy asks.

Will rolls his eyes, he doesn't want to deal with this, especially not when Jane's around. "None of your business that's what," he fires back annoyed.

Troy smirks, "Well when two freaks are out in public it is. Don't you two understand that people like you aren't okay in this town? No one likes a faggot and a retard." He says with venom.

Jane looks up from her ice cream, her eyes wide. Will stands and squares up to Troy, "You shut your mouth!"

"Oh come on admit it, she's an embarrassment to your already disgusting family!"

After Jane hears this she starts moaning and hitting herself, drawing the attention of people nearby. Will runs over to her and attempts to restrain her. "Jane. Jane it's okay, it's okay."

Troy scoffs, "See? Retard." He says before walking off.

After a few minutes of moaning Jane finally stops and cries in Will's arms. "It's okay Jane," he says rubbing her arm comfortingly, "You're not a retard you're not." He feels her head nod against his chest, saying that she is. Will pulls away and takes her face in his hands, "No you're not!" He says in a tone that might've have been a bit too harsh, but he had to get through to her the point that she wasn't a retard so she doesn't hate herself, which she always does when someone calls her a retard.

"You're very special and a much a better person than he is, you're not a mistake or a retard, you're not. Okay?"

She nods her head.

"Come here," he says pulling her into his arms, not caring about the countless people still watching, right now he only cares that his sister is safe, and that she knows she's special.


	5. September 1982

Hawkins Middle School

Will groans in pain as he lands on the hard ground. "Come on ya little fag fight back!" Troy orders. Will starts to slowly push himself back up, but is stopped when Troy kicks him in the gut. "What is your problem?" Will asks. Troy scowls, "You," he says, "You are my problem."

"I have never done anything to you!"

"You never needed to, being a little queer is enough."

Troy feels a tap on his shoulder, he turns around and is kicked hard in the balls. "AHH!" He doubles over in pain. "Jane!" Will says in amazement. Jane pushes Troy to the ground and runs over to Will to make sure he's okay.

"You bitch!" Troy says getting up, "Just wait till the principal finds out about this."

"Oh yeah? And what are you gonna tell him?" Will asks, "That you got kicked in the balls by Jane Byers, an Autistic girl, what do you think the rest of school would think if they heard about that?"

Troy's eyes go wide in fear at the thought of his reputation being destroyed.

"Because that's exactly what will happen if you tell the principal or bully us again! Understood?"

"Yes."

"Now get out of here."

Troy walks away, still in pain. After he's gone, Will gets up and smiles at Jane, "Thanks, that was amazing."

Jane smiles, happy that she protected her brother, and finally got revenge on Troy.


	6. December 1983 IV

Could this get any worse? Joyce thinks to herself. It's not long before the kids have to go back to school, and she thought it would be good for Jane to practice math before going back. God was she wrong.

She knew Jane hated math with a burning passion and couldn't get her head round it, but she needed it. Joyce didn't think that doing this would be so much trouble, but thirty minutes in, and Jane was sobbing her eyes out.

"Jane calm down please!" Joyce says, feeling a headache coming on, "It's important that you learn this."

Jane looks down at the paper that had the questions that Joyce had set her on it, picks it up, rips it in half, scrunches up the two pieces of paper into a ball, and throws it at the wall.

"Well what was the point of that?!" Joyce asks. Jane looks at her angrily. She gets out of her seat at the dining table, moves over to Joyce and starts smacking her, hard.

Joyce grabs her wrists, "Jane! What have we talked about! No hitting!"

Jane pulls her wrists from her mother's grip and storms off to her room.

Joyce doesn't follow. Instead, she sits at the table and sobs. She loves her daughter, but it's so hard sometimes.

…

A little while later, Jane steps out of her room to see that Joyce is still crying. She steps out and goes to her.

Joyce looks up when she hears the footsteps. When Jane reaches her, she puts her hands on either side of her mother's face. She places her thumbs on the ends of her lips, and pushes the skin so that her mother's frown becomes a smile, which makes her smile for real.

Jane wraps her arms around Joyce, hums and taps her shoulder, her ways of saying I love you and I'm sorry.

"I love you too," Joyce says reciprocating the hug, "And I accept your apology," she then smirks, knowing what will cheer them both up. She tickles Jane's sides, making her daughter giggle. Jane squirms in Joyce's arms, trying to get free, but her mother has her trapped.

Jane slowly sinks to the floor from laughing too much, Joyce coming down with her as she continues to tickle her daughter, who is still trying to get free.

Eventually, they both get worn out and stop, but still their huge grins on their faces, "Do you wanna do this math work another time?"

Jane nods, still out of breath.

Joyce smiles, "Okay," she leans down and kisses her daughter's forehead, "I love you baby."

Jane once again hums and flashes a smile back to her mother.


	7. February 1982

"Don't you ever speak about her that way!" Joyce shouts angrily. Lonnie has come drunk, again, and now they stand in the living room, going at each other.

"Why not?!" Lonnie asks, his speech slurred, "that's all she is, a retard!"

"She's a better person than you'll ever be!"

"Oh please, she can barely function as a human being, we never should've adopted her, do you know how embarrassing it is to have to deal with her when she has a meltdown in public?! what it's like to have everyone stare at you?!"

"Yes I do! because I've been there more for her than you! and so what if it's embarrassing she's our daughter!"

"She's a freak is what she is! and our son isn't any better, the little faggot!"

"Enough!" if the kids weren't already awake, they would be now, "I've had it! I am sick of you! having to deal you getting drunk, your gambling, and the way you treat our kids! we are done Lonnie! done!"

"What are you talking about?"

"We are getting a divorce, and you are leaving this house right now!"

"How? I'm drunk you dumb whore!"

"You got here just fine, I'm sure you'll be okay!"

"You can't kick me out."

"Yes I can! this is my house! and you are no longer welcome in it you pathetic piece of shit!"

Lonnie raises his arm and slaps her right in the face. This isn't any different to his usual outbursts, he usually hits his wife, only this time, she isn't going to take it.

She clenches her hand into a tight fist, and punches him right back in the face, breaking his nose. Lonnie's face is one of shock, but it goes straight back to anger in an instant. He moves towards her, growling in anger, but stops after she picks up a baseball bat and points it at him.

"Get out! get out of my house!" she moves forward, holding the bat to him, forcing him back towards the door.

Lonnie scoffs, "You won't do anything with that."

"You sure about that?!"

Lonnie scowls, and, without a word, opens the door, and steps out, slamming it shut.

Joyce lowers the bat, and breathes a sigh of relief, but then she hears the sound of smashing glass. She runs out to find that he has kicked out one of her headlights. "Are you kidding me!"

Lonnie says nothing, he just gets in his car, and begins to drive away. Joyce runs after him and throws the bat, taking his break light out, which causes him to stop. He gets out, looks at the damage, and picks up the bat, his face now full of rage.

"YOU BITCH! YOU'RE DEAD!"

Joyce turns round and runs back to the house, but is stopped when Lonnie throws the bat, and it collides with her head. She falls, her head in agony. She feels a hand grab her, she is then forced onto her back. Lonnie straddles her and wraps his hands around her neck. She tries to pull them away, struggling to breathe the whole time.

"Lonnie… please…"

The sound of an engine and the flashing of red and blue lights cause Lonnie to turn around the see the chief's car. Hopper, who is not in uniform, steps out and points his gun at Lonnie, "Get off of her right now!"

Without hesitation he takes his hands away from her neck, and steps to the side with his hands raised.

Hopper walks over and pushes his hands behind his back, he moves towards the hood of his cruiser, and roughly forces him down on it. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Whilst you were out here, beating your wife, your son called me on my house phone."

"Why the hell do you have the guy's number?!"

"In case this shit ever got out of hand, and I can get here a lot quicker," he finishes cuffing him, "Now get up!" he moves him to the back of his cruiser, opens the door, throws him in, and shuts it, before going to check on Joyce.

He reaches down and helps her up, "Are you okay?"

She doesn't answer, she just throws her arms around him, and breaks down into tears, "Thank you."

Hopper reciprocates the hug, "It's okay. It's over now."

…

Later that evening, Joyce lays in bed with her two children, holding them close. She smiles, she may have gone through hell tonight, but it was all worth it, because now her babies are safe, and he will never be able to hurt them again.


	8. October 1984

Late at night, Jane's eyes shoot open, she's feels something in her stomach. Knowing what it is, she quickly gets out of bed and runs to the bathroom, where she throws up.

A few seconds later Joyce runs in and kneels next to her daughter.

After she finishes vomiting she hugs her mother and cries. She hates getting sick.

"Ssh ssh, it's okay," Joyce says trying to calm her, "You're going to be okay."

Joyce knew that wasn't going to help, but it's all she could give.

…

The next day, Joyce goes into Jane's room, finding her daughter lying in bed, looking like she wants to die.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

She moans in response. Joyce kneels next to her and softly strokes her hair, "I know this sucks but, it won't last long, I promise."

Jane just blinks.

"Try and get some sleep okay," she kisses her head, "Call me if you need me."

She moves to go out the door.

"I love you," Joyce stops in her tracks, wondering if she really heard that. She turns around, "Did you just speak?"

Again, she says, "I love you."

Joyce nearly cries from happiness, her daughter spoke, for the first time. While she never cared whether she did speak or not, this was an amazing milestone. 

…

Sorry it's short, I haven't written anything for this story in a while.


	9. March 1978

Jane's eyes flutter open. She looks over at her clock, it is just after midnight. Her mouth is dry, she needs to get a drink. She moves to get out of bed, but feels something.

She throws off the covers and sees a large yellow stain on the bedsheet, her pajamas are stained as well. She rubs her hand across the large stain, and then smells her hand, she knows what it is.

…

In the next room, Joyce wakes at the sound of loud whining coming from Jane's room. Concerned, she quickly gets out of her bed, leaves the room, and goes inside Jane's to see her crying on a puddle of her own urine.

Joyce moves to her, "It's okay Jane, it's okay."

Jane looks at her with a confused face, and Joyce knows what it means.

"You thought I'd be angry didn't you?"

Jane nods.

"Jane it's okay, it was just an accident, everyone has done it, I did when I was your age, so you don't need to be upset okay."

She nods.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up."


	10. January 1985

Jane hits the cold bathroom floor with a thud, her attacker laughing. She wants to cry, but she won't let them see her like that.

"What's wrong retard?" Asks Brett, the new bully after Troy got expelled from the school.

"Get up! GET UP!"

She tries to get to her foot, but is prevented by a foot impacting her stomach, eliciting a sickening cracking sound. She's going to cry, she doesn't care.

It is then that the door swings open, and a dark haired boy storms in on the scene.

Brett turns around and smirks, "Wheeler."

"Brett."

"How'd you know I was in here?"

"I saw you dragging this poor girl away and, well, this a private location, a perfect place to kick the shit out of someone.

"That's none of you goddamned business."

"I don't care, it stops, now."

"Is that so?" Brett asks, still smirking.

"Yeah," Mike moves a few inches towards him, "Right. Now."

Brett's smirk falls from his face, and is replaced by a scowl, "Or what?"

"Or I'll tell the principal, and he'll tell your parents, and I'm almost positive you don't want them finding out about this, am I right?"

Brett elicits a low growl, "Screw you Wheeler."

He shoves Mike as he walks to the door, he opens it, but before leaving he looks at Jane, "We're not done freak!" And then walks out, letting the door slam behind him.

…

A week later, Jane sits in hospital, usually she doesn't like hospitals, but this time, she sits with a smile on her face. In her hands is a 'Get Well' card, and in it is written:

Don't let anyone tell you that you're worthless, you are Jane Byers, and you are perfect

\- Mike

Mike. The dark haired who had suddenly appeared in her life, and if this card was any indication, he didn't intend on leaving.

…

AN: I will no longer be taking chapter requests. Sorry. This story will have five more chapters.


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